In the picture German premiers at Elmau Castle – Picture by bayern.de, Bavarian State Chancellery.
24-25 October 2019, Elmau Castle, Krün, Free State of Bavaria: In the capacity of ongoing chair for the Conference of Heads of Government of the Länder (Minister-Presidentenkonferenz – MPK), Bavarian Premier Dr. Markus Söder invited his colleagues to the MPK Annual Conference under Bavarian chairmanship for discussions on the cross-border integration amongst the Länder, stronger federalism, measures to counteract climate change, digitisation and mobile networks throughout Germany, the fight against anti-Antisemitism and the protection of synagogues.
Sunday, 20 October 2020, Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Norway handed over to Canada the guest of honour status for the 2020 Frankfurt Book Fair.
About Canada FBM2020
Canada FBM2020 was established in collaboration with the Association of Canadian Publishers (ACP) and the Association nationale des éditeurs de livres (ANEL) to manage, in both official languages, the role and involvement of the Canadian book industry in the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2020.
Canada FBM2020 receives financial support from the Department of Canadian Heritage, which is the federal department responsible for the general administration of Canada’s appearance as Guest of Honour at the 2020 Frankfurt fair. It works under the strategic supervision of an executive committee that includes representatives of Canadian Heritage, the Canada Council for the Arts, Global Affairs Canada, Telefilm Canada, and members of Canada FBM2020’s Board of Directors.
Handover ceremony for Canada at the Frankfurt Book Fair – Image by Canada FBM2020.
As a not-for-profit organisation, Canada FBM2020 is supported by an independent board of directors and works with key partners in the Government of Canada and the book industry to deliver the major elements of the Guest of Honour programme. Canada FBM is an entity that uses the two official languages to represent Anglophone, Francophone and Indigenous book publishers from across Canada.
About the Concept of Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair
Each year, the Frankfurt Book Fair names as its guest of honour a country whose literature and culture are showcased during the entire period of the fair itself in October, as well as in the preceding months. The Guest of Honour country, or region, participates during the entire year leading up to the book fair in various cultural events and projects in Frankfurt and elsewhere in Germany. It also organises a wide variety of literary activities, art and culture exhibitions, and music, dance, theatre and film programs to celebrate the talent and diversity of their creators.
The Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia, H.E. Ms. Dubravka Plejic Markovic, entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1994, where she stayed six years with multilateral department in various capacities.
Shortly after entering the Ministry, she was assigned to the Office of the President of the Republic, Franjo Tudjman, as a supporting member of his foreign policy team. That was shortly after Croatia gained full sovereignty and territorial integrity over its formerly occupied territories and during the Dayton peace talks. In this capacity she took part in numerous meetings with policy making officials involved in bringing final peace to war-torn Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. This was instrumental in gaining insight into vital role the UN and other security providers played in post-conflict resolution and peaceful transition.
Back in the Ministry she was engaging on the ICTY issues which led her to overtake the ICC as well. In special capacity as the coordinator of the ICTY and ICC, Mrs. Plejic Markovic helped promulgate Croatian policies and answers arising from cooperation with ICTY and served as an expert in national delegation negotiating ICC’s establishment.
From 2001 onward, she served as the DCM at the Permanent Mission at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg dealing mostly with political issues. Upon returning to the Ministry, she was offered position of the Head of NATO department in 2004, dealing with obligations stemming from the MAP. She stayed in this position for one year after which she joined the Permanent Mission to the OSCE, UN and other international organizations in Vienna as the Deputy Head of Mission. During that time she was responsible for the political issues arising from cooperation with the OSCE’s field Mission in Croatia as well as other political and military issues.
She chaired FSC (working groups) during Croatian presidency of the FSC in 2007 and several other meetings within FSC’s purview. After completing her term in Vienna, Mrs. Plejic Markovic was assigned to international security department in the MFA covering wide range of security issues.
In 2012, she was appointed Security Policy Director attending variety of EU gatherings and helping to promulgate foreign policy responses and national laws in wake of the countries accession to the EU. As of 2013 on, she was appointed Assistant Foreign Minister dealing with extra-European affairs. During that time numerous crisis involving the Arab world escalated and her multilateral skills were of use in dealing with national responses to these pressing issues.
In her capacity as Assistant Foreign Minister, she traveled extensively accompanying the minister to countries of Central Asia, Iran, Iraq, Middle East, US and Russian Federation and attended numerous bilateral talks with her counterparts.
As of January 2016, Mrs. Plejic Markovic served as the Permanent Representative and Ambassador of Croatia to the OSCE, UN and International organizations in Vienna. During that tenure, in 2019, she was elected as the Vice-Chair of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs.
Ambassador Plejic Markovic holds a degree in Law from University of Zagreb and has passed the bar exam. She is married with two adult daughters. Mrs. Plejic Markovic speaks English, German and French (conversational) and holds the rank of an Ambassador in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In her free time, she enjoys outdoor activities, opera performances and a good read.
The new Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic to the Kingdom of the Netherlands is H.E. Mr. Nicolas P. Plexidas, a seasoned diplomat with over 35 years of experience in the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, both in Athens and throughout the world.
A warm and sociable person, who has managed to positively impress the diplomatic community of the Netherlands with his excellent work since his arrival to The Hague a few months ago. This is how H.E. Mr. Nicolas P. Plexidas, the new Ambassador of Greece to the Netherlands, is described by his colleagues. In October 2019, Ambassador Plexidas took up the role of Ambassador in The Hague – a new high point for his 35-years-long career in the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Born in Thessaloniki in 1956, Mr. Plexidas attended a Greek-American high school in his native city, before moving on to study Spanish Language and Literature in Barcelona. After coming back to Thessaloniki, Mr. Plexidas graduated in Economic and Political Science at the city’s “Aristotle University”, only then to leave again to perform his military service in Brussels, at Greece’s Permanent Representation to NATO.
After these stimulating experiences, Mr. Plexidas – then aged 29 – decided to undertake the diplomatic career. After one year at the Diplomatic Academy in Athens, Mr. Plexidas officially joined his country’s Foreign Service, where he occupied an extremely wide array of positions, alternating between posts at home and missions abroad.
In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters in Athens, Mr. Plexidas dealt with a large number of issues, working first in the Directorate for Political Relations with Asia and Oceania, and then in the Directorate for International Organizations and Conferences, where he became the Head of the UN Department. Raising through the ranks of the Ministry, in the last 15 years Mr. Plexidas assumed increasingly high-level roles, becoming Head of Department for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and eventually Director of NATO and Euroatlantic Security.
The Ambassador’s long career at the Greek MFA was interspersed with numerous posts in several of Greece’s missions around the world. For several times in his career, Mr. Plexidas represented his country in key international organizations, working at Greece’s Permanent Representations to the United Nations (both in New York and in Geneva) and to the European Union.
H.E. Mr. Nicolas Plexidas, Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic.
He also performed important duties as Consul and General Consul in Vancouver, Cologne, and Dusseldorf, as well as Head of Greece’s Liaison Officer in Pristina, Kosovo. Moreover, over his career Mr. Plexidas also took up increasingly high-level posts in his country’s Embassies, working as Deputy Head of Mission in Iran and Portugal, as Ambassador in Slovakia, and finally as Ambassador in The Netherlands.
Ambassador Plexidas speaks an impressive amount of languages – six, with English, Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese complementing his mother tongue Greek. The Ambassador is father to three daughters, and his partner is Anna-Maria Panagiotakopoulou. In 2015, Ambassador Plexidas received an important award from his country, Greece, which decorated him as Grand Commander of the Order of the Phoenix.
The diplomatic community of the Netherlands wishes all the best to Ambassador Plexidas, his family, and all the Embassy’s staff!
In the picture, Minister of State Dr. Florian Herrmann and Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar – Picture by bayern.de, Bayerische Staatskanzlei.
Monday, 21 October 2019, Free State of Bavaria: State Minister Dr. Florian Herrmann, Head of the State Chancellery and Minister of State for Federal and European Affairs and Media of Bavaria, welcomed at his office in Munich the Nigerian Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar with a conversation focused on Bavarian political and development commitments in Africa, that are intensified since the state opened a representation in Ethiopia.
Ambassador Tuggar is Nigeria’s top diplomatic envoy since 20 September 2019. He has a background as a businessman, having been CEO for Nordic Oil and Gas Services Limited headquartered in Lagos.
Men’s Area – Cartier Boutique Munich – Picture by Cartier.
Friday, 11 October 2019, Munich, Free State of Bavaria, Germany: Cartier Northern Europe re-opened of its Munich Boutique on Maximilianstrasse 20 with much pomp and circumstance.
As part of the maison’s international retail transformation the boutique was closed for a period of nine month for redesign and extend the sales floor.
The new boutique covers a sales area of around 300 sqm on two floors and draws its influences both, from the Bavarian landscapes as well as from urban architecture, reinterpreting the area’s very own cultural and distinctive artistic features.
In the entrance hall, dedicated to women’s jewellery and leather goods, cream-coloured elements and gold patina materials give brightness and elegance to the space. A tailor-made metal wall reminds of the Cartier panther’s fur pattern and an artsy modern, especially for the boutique designed, chandelier catch the eye. A corner with dark green wallpaper printed with blossoming trees and magnificent birds honours the beauty of the Bavarian forest.
Diamond Salon – Cartier Boutique Munich – Image by Cartier.
As an homage to Munich’s Frauenkirche a touch of red is added through the bright seat covers and another Bavarian reference is found in the brocade wall coverings of the detached alcove in the adjacent men’s area.
Here the elegant cream shades carry on but splashes of blue and brown convey a more masculine feel. Hidden in the wall is a VIP room held in green that also reflects the local heritage in the coffered ceiling and lace elements from traditional attire worked into the wall coverings and seat covers. A monumental – so far biggest bas-relief in a Cartier boutique ever – alongside a curved staircase, connects the first and the second floor. It is decorated with the Cartier panther roaming about the landscape of castle Neuschwanstein.
A precious glass elevator next to another copper-gold shimmering drop-chandelier also brings the customer to the upper floor where the atmosphere of coziness and refinement endures.
On this floor two more sales areas and another discretely integrated VIP room await the guests.
In the prestige salon where the Maison’s High Jewellery is presented, an inviting lounge suite makes you feel at home. In the diamond salon that is only separated through an embellished golden see-through paravent and some shelves, the offer focuses on the bridal collection.
Occasionally integrated sunglasses, scarves and perfume round off the assortment of the new boutique.
Sir Sebastian Wood, Bodo Ramelow, Hubertus and Andreas of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Tsar Simeon II of the Bulgars – Image by TSK, Paul-Philipp Braun.
13 October 2019, Gotha, Free State of Thuringia: On the occasion of this double 200th birthday of British Queen Victoria and her German-born consort, Prince Albert, a reception with representatives from politics, royalty and society took place at Friedenstein Castle in Gotha.
Thuringia’s Premier Bodo Ramelow and State Secretary for Culture Dr. Babette Winter partook on behalf of the state government. In his welcoming address, the Premier Ramelow emphasised the importance of the Thuringian aristocratic lines for European history. “It is good when we exchange ideas with each other today and there is no strife between royalty and politics. For it is part of our country, of our society,” said Ramelow.
The dream couple of the XIX century – as Premier Ramelow described Albert and Victoria – still bring together today. He also stressed the presence of the British Ambassador Sir Sebastian Wood and the last Tsar of the Bulgars, Simeon II, who was in Gotha for the ceremony.
“It is about our cultural richness, our cultural diversity and our cultural openness to the world. That is the message that Victoria and Albert are giving us,” Ramelow said. Further in attendance was The Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Andreas and his heir, Hereditary Prince Hubertus.
Latin American classical music and Indonesian gamelan sounds presented together on one stage
The Hague – After a successful start of his three part concert series Around the World on Two Pianos with ‘Latinissimo’ on 12 October, Latin America specialist Gustavo Corrales Romero is preparing for the next notable concert organized by his production company KyG Productions on 17 November at The Concertgebouw. The other grand piano will this time be played by none other than Indonesia music specialist Henk Mak van Dijk.
Cuban pianist-composer Gustavo Corrales Romero has had a 17 year spanning classical education culminating at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) in Havana, Cuba. Together with his wife and business partner he has been promoting ‘the other sound of Latin America’ for years. He offers several concert formulas for which he can draw on a 200-year-old range of Latin American classical, modern classical and contemporary compositions, including his own.
Henk Mak van Dijk studied piano at Codarts Rotterdam and the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. After his studies he ended up in Indonesia, where he taught piano at Institut Seni Indonesia in Yogyakarta and gave concerts on Java, Bali and Sulawesi. After his return he worked at the conservatories of Rotterdam and The Hague and performed for Dutch radio and television.
His interest for classical music from Indonesia led to research in co-operation with the Dutch Music Institute (Nederlands Muziek Instituut, NMI), resulting in his pioneering book De oostenwind waait naar het westen; Indische componisten en Indische composities, 1898-1945 (The Eastern Wind blows to the West; Indische composers, Indische compositions 1898-1945). Besides other publications since, another remarkable book was launched in May 2019: Tropenjazz, Jazz in Indië, 1919-1950 (Jazz in the Dutch East Indies 1919-1950).
In 2018 Mak van Dijk approached Corrales to do a first performance on two pianos in The Netherlands of a forgotten jazz concert by Indonesian composer Ludwig van Zele. Its manuscript was found by Mak van Dijk on an attic in The Hague with the collaboration of Zele’s cousin Mark Boon. This unique work was written in 1932 and has two versions: one for piano solo with small jazz orchestra… and one for two pianos.
Mak van Dijk had played this piano concerto with the Galloway Big Band from Amsterdam, conducted by T.S. Galloway, at the Tong Tong Fair two years before. This jazz concert certainly deserves more attention from a wider audience with its many virtuoso passages, big chords and a swing bass in the first part; a slow part in a sultry bluesy atmosphere in the style of a Hollywood movie song; ending in a spicy ragtime. The concert seems to be written in the style of music of the American composer George Gershwin. In the newspaper Den Haag Centraal the piece was referred to as ‘an Indische Rhapsody in Blue’.
This cornerstone of the program is complemented by a balanced selection by Corrales and Mak van Dijk of the music they serve from two different parts of the world: on the one hand the magic of the gamelan in Java and Bali, with – among others – three beautiful transcriptions by Canadian composer Colin McPhee of ceremonial Balinese music. On the other Cuban romance, Corrales’ ode to his hometown Guantánamo, steaming Manteca bebop, two waltzes from respectively Curaçao and Aruba and a premiere by Corrales’ wife: Enigma from her Suite Latina.
East Indies – West Indies can be heard on Sunday 17 November 2019, from 14:15 to 16:15 at The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Ticket sales are handled by The Concertgebouw: at the box office, by telephone 020 671 8345 and online. Search The Concertgebouw website by Corrales or visit this link for a series discount www.concertgebouw.nl/around-the-world-on-two-pianos
Pieter de Hooch (1629- in or after 1679) ca. 1657. Portrait of a Delft Family. Gemäldegalerie der Akademie der bildenden Künste, Vienna.
By John Dunkelgrün.
‘Everyone’ has heard of Johannes Vermeer and it is common knowledge that he was the most important painter in Delft, a city which during the 17th century, the Dutch Golden Age, as a very important center of the arts.
Much less known is his contemporary and fellow Delft painter Pieter de Hoogh and more is the pity. De Hooch is not ‘just’ one of the great Dutch painters of the time, he was an innovator and for the most time a chronicler of ordinary life.
Born in Rotterdam he lived his formative years in Delft, the city of his mother. He married a Delft girl, had his education there and an important part of his career. He started by painting ‘genre’ works, guard soldiers at rest and play. Inspired by his father, a master bricklayer, he developed his own style, life on the inner courtyards of normal, even simple Delft houses.
Pieter de Hooch (1629- in or after 1679). ca. 1670. The Jacott-Hoppesack Family. Amsterdam Museum, acquired with support from the Vereniging Rembrandt
He used iconic Delft buildings such as the ‘Oude Kerk’ (Old Church) and parts of the “Hiëronymus Klooster” (the St. Jerome cloister and bits of old walls and buildings he found elsewhere.
This way he made phantasy cityscapes that were still recognizable as Delft scenes. He became a master of perspective, with techniques like using chalked threads radiating from a single nail, that left perspective lines on his canvas. He masterfully crafted little archways from the courtyards and corridors from rooms in which he placed his main personages.
Pieter de Hooch (1629- in or after 1679). ca. 1670-1674. Man Reading a Letter to a Woman. The Kremer Collection – www.thekremercollection.com
Later in his life he moved to Amsterdam, the ‘center of it all’, where he made a decent living for his family of seven (five children), but due to the heavy competition, life there wasn’t easy for him.
All in all this rare exhibition of his works from many countries (including works from the British Royal collection) gives a wonderful view of ordinary life in 7th century Holland. Noteworthy are some of his paintings, which he painted twice with slight differences. These are now together for the first time in almost four centuries and not likely to be seen again in anybody’s lifetime.
Pieter de Hooch (1629- in or after 1679). ca. 1663-1665. Figures in a Courtyard behind a House. Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, on loan from the City of Amsterdam (bequest A. van der Hoop)
The exhibition also has displays of copies of his work next to that of Vermeer, showing how much they were influenced by one another. There is no proof that they were acquainted, but being brother members of the same guild in a relatively small city makes that almost inevitable.
This delightful exposition is in the Prinsenhof, the last residence of William I of Orange, the direct ancestor of King Willem Alexander. He was murdered there on July 10th, 1584 by an assassin hired by the Spanish crown. Three bullets were fired and he was killed by one. The bullet holes of the other two can still be seen on the stairway.
German premiers at Elmau Castle – Picture by bayern.de, Bavarian State Chancellery.
24-25 October 2019, Elmau Castle, Krün, Free State of Bavaria: In the capacity of ongoing chair for the Conference of Heads of Government of the Länder (Minister-Presidentenkonferenz – MPK), Bavarian Premier Dr. Markus Söder invited his colleagues to the MPK Annual Conference under Bavarian chairmanship for discussions on the cross-border integration amongst the Länder, stronger federalism, measures to counteract climate change, digitisation and mobile networks throughout Germany, the fight against anti-Antisemitism and the protection of synagogues.
